By switching out the sugar for honey, I was able to make this GAPS/SCD approved Pepperoni without nitrates or any other additives. This is so good and you can add it to salads, cut off a chunk for snacks, or add it to your GAPS pizza crust. It is so easy the kids can do it! But it is time intensive so I recommend making several pounds at a time and freezing it.

If you miss pizza, it really isn’t all that hard to make a GAPS pizza. My daughter often treats us with pizza on Saturday and I have asked her to share her recipe with us.

She mixes this all up in the food processor until it looks like a thick wet paste.

She then puts a sheet of parchment paper on our pizza stone (but you can use a cookie sheet). She oils the parchment paper, and then she scoops out the dough and spreads it out evenly with a rubber spatula, then she pads it out with her hands to make it all even.

She bakes it in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the outer edges begin to turn slightly brown. (or you can stick a knife in the center to see if it comes out clean) Then you put another piece of parchment paper one top of it and then flip it over. (Or if you are using a cookie sheet, you can just put another cookie sheet on the top and flip it over.)

At this point you put all of your toppings on it. It is important that all of your toppings be thoroughly cooked. We usually make a sauce and include all of the ingredients that need cooking in the sauce. Spread this sauce on top of the pizza, adding the things like black olives, pepperoni and cheese. It gets popped back into the oven until the cheese is melted. (About 5-10 minutes)

In trying to practice the 20/80 rule, I am increasingly trying to find new and different flavors for breakfast. One morning, I was scrounging around in the fridge trying to find something vegetable oriented to go with the breakfast eggs. I found a head of Chinese cabbage intended for the next batch of Kimchi. So I ripped off a few of the outer leaves and went to work at my stove.

Let me preface, that I love a good eggroll. This is one of those things that I miss on the GAPS diet so stumbling upon this idea has been a delight for me. This recipe/idea could be considered Egg Foo Yung, but I think the ingredients make it taste more like egg rolls. Either way, it definitely has that strong hint of Chinese food that I love.

I start out by slicing up onions, mushrooms, and the Chinese cabbage. I fry all of this in a bit of beef fat and olive oil, until everything is nice and wilted down and soft. I sprinkle in salt and garlic powder. Then I pour in whipped up eggs to cover, stirring the eggs into the veggies a bit and cover with a lid. I let the eggs get about done and then I turn the omelet over and brown the other side.

Yes, it has been a while since I last posted. And honestly, the last thing anyone probably wants to hear more about is Cushaw Squash.

My middle daughter, who has gone back and been working her way slowly through GAPS is not eating anything green and leafy. And she does not like mushrooms….so that leaves me with some challenges, particularly for breakfast. We are working on her losing and maintaining her weight, while we are trying to get her immune system built up…i.e. guts working properly.

I have gone to rigorously implementing the 20/80 rule. Twenty percent protein, eighty percent veggie or fruit. Fruits are for snacks. So that leaves me always looking for ways to add veggies to everything I make.

I was quite pleased the other day when this daughter commented on breakfast., “This is the best”, “It’s better than Bob Evans!” Now, when one of your kids say something like that to you, it makes you take notice.

In the previous post, I talked about how I cut up and peel these big squash and then store them in the fridge for later use. I toss them into soups, breads, etc.

Lately, I have been cooking them sliced up with onions in some butter and olive oil. I cook them until they have browned a bit and sprinkle them with garlic powder, salt and paprika. When they are done, I add eggs to the top and cover the skillet until the eggs are done.

I have also made “French Toast” eggs with Cushaw’s as well. I take the squash and grate it. Then I fry the squash (this time without onions) in butter and coconut oil until it is browned a bit. When done, I liberally sprinkle on cinnamon. In a bowl of beaten eggs, I add vanilla, salt, and a spoonful of honey. I beat the whole mess up until the eggs are a bit fluffy and pour it over the fried squash, stirring in the eggs a bit to mix them in. I cover with a lid and steam until almost done, then I flip the eggs and squash (cutting it into manageable sections) browning the other side. Top with a scoop of plain yogurt-or if you are prone to like your sweets, add some honey. FAST and easy French Toast the GAPS way!!

I hope you never give up trying to find easy and affordable ways to make GAPS meals.

I had a dear friend bestow upon me several Cushaw Squash. These are huge things usually used for fall decorations and can often be found free along with pumpkins that people want to get rid of after Halloween. (It is easy to find free pumpkins and squash this time of year. My hubby once found a 30lb pumpkin tossed along a running path. He brought it home and we cut it up and we canned several quarts of pumpkin, along with roasting the seeds…We have a motto in our home, never pass up free food!)

Cushaw squash is very mild in flavor and somewhat like a spaghetti squash in taste. And they can be massive in size, which means that is a LOT of squash to contend with; but is it really?

These types of mild flavored squash (and there are several) have all kinds of uses. My daughter was selling zucchini breads last summer at the farmers market. The Cushaw is a very good replacement for zucchini. It comes out a bit drier but that might not be a problem because this bread will make a peanut butter and honey sandwich that won’t fall apart in the making. It makes a nice solid slice-able bread.

Squash Bread

3/4 cup grated squash

8 eggs

1/2 c melted butter

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 coconut flour

Mix it all up in a bowl, pour into a bread pan lined with greased parchment paper, bake at 350 for about an hour until a knife comes out clean.

What else can one do with a Cushaw?

For starters, this is what I do with any of these “large” squash whether it be a Cushaw or a Blue Hubbard. I cut them open, rake out the seeds and then I peel them. After I peel them I put the peeled slices in a zipper bag and store it in the refrigerator for use throughout the week. A few minutes of prep time gives me a week’s worth of at hand food to cook with. Because these squash are so mild in flavor they take on the flavors that you add to them thus giving you an affordable way to stretch your food budget.

As I am cooking throughout the week I incorporate these squash into my meals. Here are some ideas:

Fry bacon, then cook the squash in the grease along with some onions. Then crumble up the bacon, top with your favorite cheese

Use it like rice-cook ground beef, onions, and the squash then put in your favorite Mexican seasonings, or add your favorite Indian seasonings and top it yogurt cheese. Or to make it Italian in flavor add basil and tomatoes. This concept is limitless and by peeling the squash in advance you have a ready made and fast meal at your finger tips.

Chop them up and fry them along with mushrooms and peppers.

Add them to leftover chicken and smother with tomatoes.

Cook by themselves in butter and coconut oil, smash them up and add some yogurt and Parmesan cheese, a light pinch of nutmeg, and salt. Yum, this one is akin to risotto and is a delight!

As the weather is cooling off in this region, it is time for more soups. This squash is being tossed into all kinds of soups. It blends up well with other veggies and it also adds a nice texture to chunky soups.

Squash is one of the main food groups for GAPS/SCD because it is high in fiber and very good at fleshing out a meal. It is easy on the tummy and very affordable. So do not neglect this squash because it seems overwhelming in size.

I have recently been moving bookshelves around and was flipping through some cookbooks. Many recipes can quickly be made GAPS friendly by swapping out an ingredient or two.

I am also trying to incorporate more diversity in my meals. My main goal is to find ways to stretch my grass-fed meat budget.

The other morning as I was flipping through a cookbook I came across this recipe which I have converted to make it 100% GAPS legal. We all were delighted with how this tasted.

1 lb of ground meat

1 cup of beets

2 eggs

a splash of apple cider vinegar

1 tsp of dill weed

salt and pepper

about a 1/4 cup of coconut flour (perhaps less)

and of course salt and pepper

I put the beets in the food processor and ground them up. Then I tossed in everything but the coconut flour. I ground it up and then added in flour until it was a good texture for frying

Before serving I topped with yogurt cheese that I had mixed with dill weed. (yogurt cheese is like cream cheese)

I admit that I had some reservations about this recipe but I am so glad that I did not pass it over. It was truly fabulous. So if you are trying to get more veggies into your diet, this recipe is a winner. It works out to be about half meat and half veggies. But the addition of eggs and the cheese keeps the protein levels up.

I used a very lean ground beef so it cooked out no fat, making these burgers good eaten cold or chopped up in a salad.

I confess, I like mayonnaise, the stuff that comes out of the jar, made out of soybean oils, and that has “natural flavorings”. But for the most part, I stopped it eating it years ago when I stopped consuming soybean oil and MSG.

I have gone through those periods of time when I have made homemade mayo but the flavor really wasn’t as good. And as is my habit, if I consider it unhealthy and can’t easily duplicate it, I just leave it out of my life. In most cases, I can be just as satisfied with mustard or salsa as a condiment….But I really like a good homemade ranch or blue cheese dressing made with mayo.

On one of those rare occasions, when I had a few moments of free time and decided to flip through my grandmother’s Household Searchlight Recipe Book (copyrighted 1937) to see what it had to say about mayonnaise. Mom, always told me the old-timers made their mayonnaise and how good it was. And while the modern recipe that we find all over the internet and in the modern cookbooks is good, to me it was just not good enough, yet I knew it needed a touch of something to make it better. With cookbook in hand, it took me about two seconds before I was doing one of those hand slaps to head and saying “why didn’t I think of that!”

The secret to having that store bought flavored mayonnaise is so simple, add a little honey. And if this still is not quite right, do half lemon juice and half vinegar.

Place the egg yolk, lemon juice/vinegar, honey, salt and cayenne in a blender or food processor. Turn on and then begin to gradually drizzle in the oil….blend until smooth. Adjust honey, salt, vinegar to taste.

Once you get your ingredients worked out just right, add a bit of whey for safe keeping and it will keep for several days.

A quick and simple method:

Recently, I had a friend encourage me to make mayo with my immersion blender. Put in all the ingredients and then the blender…and you have a no fuss mayo, without having to drip the oil, and almost instant mayonnaise!! I tried this and it worked—EXCEPT, for this version I had to use the whole egg (white) to make it whip up. It did alter the flavor a tad but overall, still very good.

And a last word on this topic, please make sure if you are making mayo from scratch that you use an egg source that you can trust. If you are using eggs from the supermarket, for safety sake make sure the eggs shells are in good condition with no fissures or weak spots in them.

I work a farmers market and one of the things that I almost always have left over at the end of the day is Kale. Mid-westerners are known to not like their vitamin K and although they “know they should be eating more greens” they simply cannot make the change from yellow (corn) to green leafy stuff.

I don’t really have a set way to do kale but the last time, I chopped it up very finely in the food processor, added in a little shredded onion and carrot, garlic, lime juice, Braggs Amino Acids, and of course salt. The idea was to duplicate the flavor that goes into my kale chips….well, it didn’t turn out tasting like Kale Chips but it is still tasty and a good way to consume the nutrient dense kale.

A person’s liking for fermented food is as individual as the person themselves. For instance, Hubby likes his Kraut shredded, he likes the texture better. Darling Daughter likes it slaw cut ( grated). Instead of making two batches, I try to vary it each time I make it. Almost every week for the past 10 years I have filled jars with some concoction, with something always working in one corner of the house or other.

Something for consideration, particularly with children, is that their tastes buds can be more sensitive so too much hot peppers or spices can be overpowering. When one starts the GAPS diet we tend to want to make things as “flavorful” as possible to entice the children….when in reality the child may do best on having foods a bit more bland and then gradually add in the herbs and spices. And I think this goes ditto for aging palates as well. Things that we might have liked when we were younger change too as we age. So if you have family members that lean more to the “basic flavors”, I encourage you to stick to the basics. As fermenting is becoming all the rage, we do not have to compete with our neighbors with more hot peppers, cumin, etc. Nor are we slaves to a particular recipe. A good basic beans with onion can be as satisfying as the ones with all the extras. If mild Kimchi is preferred over the dragon breathing kind then make it mild. The goal is to have your family consuming these foods at every meal. Our fermenting should be to satisfy our family not to try and out do others. If it is too hot, overly spicy, or the flavor just grows boring, the consumption will slack off and our family will lose the intestinal benefits they gain from eating them. In the growing community of fermenting it is important to remember that we are all after the same thing, intestinal health and that we need to love one another and support one another in our individual preferences.